Jongro BBQ

First time checkin out this place last night and it was pretty good. Despite some of the negative ratings, my friend and I decided to give it a try. I knew it would be crowded for a Friday evening but the wait staff were attentive and we didn’t have to wait to be seated.
The marinated beef we ordered was tasty and tender. The side dishes were really good. Beers were on the more expensive side than what I’m used to in this area. Overall good experience.

Came here with a family of 9 including one child and two babies for a christmas celebration. The food was good it wasnt so expensive, we ordered about 6 packed meats. The meat was really fresh. We had 4 (neng myun) too and all came out to be only 300! I find that cheaper than other places. But please dont come with a large group of people like we did for family celebration.. it gets too crowded. My dad sure wasnt happy about it but enjoyed the food. Its a good place to go with friends!

I came here a few times for their lunch special. While it probably doesn’t offer the same quality of bbq as other places, I think it’s still pretty decent. They give you a lot of side dishes (I always love those and appreciate it when they refill them without you having to ask) and their lunch special is cheap.
The soondubu and galbi combo is what I usually get when I come, and it’s been good every time I ordered it. I tried their bimbimbap and wasn’t the biggest fan.

This place was empty, yet the waitress was grilling our food so fast that we couldn’t keep up with her. Leaving the meat overcooked and burnt. Once all the meat was cooked, she left and never came back. All the wait staff were too busy yappin away with each other. Service sucked!
The food… don’t know cuz it was mostly burnt.

Okay, I’m moving my rating up for several reasons. The first time around, I don’t think I ordered the right things. I’ve also been coming here quite often.
Didn’t love my sever when I first came here but I will say, the service here is excellent. That’s probably a big reason why I keep coming here. It’s also far more comfortable to eat at than Kanghodong Baekjeong.
My appetizers here are the kimchi pancake and the fried dumplings, the dumplings are new on the menu. The kimchi pancake in my opinion is crispier, has a good balance of spice and taste. If you’ve ever had homemake kimchi pancake, it’s pretty close.
The dumplings have this great crispiness and the right amount of filling. I love them for fried mandoo.
For beef, prime marinated kalbi. For pork, pork belly. Just decide how many orders.
Can’t beat the parking situation either, so easy to get a spot here.

Food was okay. Not that big of a portion. Our server never came to us. We had to flag Down a diff waitress and she took our order and grilled our meat.
Con– barely to none side dishes. Extra charge for rice. Server not attentive. Music is loud.
Pro — nice décor. Individual seating.

On the cheaper side compared to other BBQ places but of course portions are a lot smaller and not that many side dishes. Had the prime beef and pork belly it was quite tasty but didn’t hit that spot as well as Mapo would’ve. Also had the kimchi jjigae which was on point. Would definitely go back when I’m not starving

Food is average. Little small dishes. The staffs were busy talking to each other, and didn’t pay attention to the customer.

My sister and I really love this place. They have a friendly staffs. If we don’t come here, we usually go to ktown W 32^nd St.
I don’t normally eat beef because I hate its smell but when I tried their marinated kalbi, I couldn’t even taste or smell it like a beef.
I also love their seafood tofu soup.
I really recommend this place! :)

Been here both for lunch and dinner. The quick and dirty is that lunch is the way to go due to its great value. Dinner is a bit expensive but I’ll get to that.
Lunch has a bunch of set menu options that give you a side of bbq meat with either a Korean stew or other entrée for a really great price. The meat is cooked in the kitchen but the restaurant gives you a complimentary table side steamed egg dish which is pretty awesome. My spicy cold noodles and kalbi were great and it ran under $ 15. Winner. (5 stars)
Dinner offers the same variety of meats and stews but at regular a la carte price. The price isn’t out of line with any other a la carte KBBQ places but I just feel that if I’m going to spend $ 30 bucks or more per plate of meat, I probably should be doing AYCE instead. That being said, the meat quality was great. The kalbi was tender, marinated perfectly and melted in your mouth. (3 stars mainly based on value, not taste)
Décor at this location is also cool in a kind of retro way of how a place might look in Korea back in the day. Service is great (they have a server call button on each table) and every server speaks fluent English. They explain everything and are incredibly friendly. Ample parking lot is also a plus. Probably going to frequent this place a lot for lunch but dinner wasn’t too shabby.

What used to be a McDonald’s, now turned into a Korean BBQ joint! Who would’ve ever thought. Because of that, my mother and I decided to check this place out. We ordered the USDA Prime Ribeye and the USDA Prime Kalbi, which is supposedly better quality meat. The portion was the right amount of food. We weren’t full, only content. (However, we did not order rice). The restaurant was hectic, busy and loud, which is not necessarily a bad thing… just very good business.
The service and server specifically was on point. She literally came every 10 seconds to flip the meat and to see how we liked our meat (medium rare).
However, nothing really stood out to me but at the same time, nothing bad or negative about this restaurant.
2 people for $ 71 before tips.

Clean Classic Quick Korean BBQ
What used to be a neighborhood landmark McDonalds is a Korean BBQ joint.
I like the classic motif and décor cause you feel like you just stepped into pre-​industrial Korea.
The menu has photos which is friendly for non-​Korean customers.
They have different USDA quality cuts of meat. They differentiate the USDA Prime from the regular cuts. However, they don’t indicate if its choice, select, or standard. The prime does definitely stand out in flavor.
The «everything meat special» is large enough for two people, three small children. It comes with thinly sliced brisket, Thicker cut rib eye steak which Koreans call «Deung Shim,» regular kalbi, and prime Kalbi. Don’t be alarmed because the portions don’t look like much but when it is grilled and cut by your expert grill master and eaten properly with all the accompaniments; you will be satisfied. The standout cut was definitely the prime short ribs, «Kal Bi.» The prime Kal Bi melts in your mouth like butter.
They provide all the necessities such as a dipping station with fermented soy bean paste and sesame oil, and salt. I like that they let you decide how much salt you want in your sauce. The onion were sliced thinly and the marinade had just the right amount of sweetness and tang. The steamed egg was good and I could taste the shrimp paste in there. The fermented soy bean stew or «Dwen Jang Jji Gae» wasn’t too bad either. They had little baby squids and zucchinis in there too. The greens were fresh and the daikons were as well. The best side I appreciated was the pickled jalapenos.
The service was quick and efficient. Our grill master didn’t rush and waited till we finished the alrready cooked portions before grilling up some more meat. In other K’ BBQ restaurants, the grill master tends to grill everything quickly but that often results in cold and flavorless meat. The side dishes were replenished upon request. It would be nice if they’d be refilled without asking. All in all, my first experience at Jong Ro was a good one and I will be back for more.

Alright so I ended up coming back here last week to celebrate my brother’s birthday, and maybe my first visit came on an off day because the meat was noticeably different. But the stars remain the same.
Let’s get through this quickly, shall we?
1. the yookhae (beef tartar) — think of (what you hope is) a higher quality cut of beef, marinated in the standard sesame and soy sauce mix, but raw. With a raw egg. It’s something I loved as a child (because I was a fatty fat fat child), and Jongro did it well. My only issues with the dish were that the portion was pretty small, and the meat to chopped onion ratio was dangerously close to 1:1. I love onion, but… jeez. Delicious though! If you’ve never tried it, this is one of the few places in Queens that still do it.
2. a meat combo thing — I’m sorry, I know, this is a terrible description, but it was a family dinner, so naturally mother took control of the menu. It was their marinated galbi, galbi ssal and a steak (straight up, a steak). The meat was noticeably better this second time around as the flavor was closer to what I had hoped it would be.
3. Kimchi Jjigae — You will never find me ordering kimchi jjigae because I strongly feel it’s one of those dishes you make at home, and not waste money on at a restaurant, but we needed a stew, so we ordered it. I didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it. I was relieved to see that they didn’t mess up such an easy dish.
So I enjoyed the meat more this time around (that’s what she said), but why the same 3 star rating? I feel like the restaurant is still lacking. Even the fact that my sister-​in-​law knows the operations manager couldn’t get the experience to what I’ve grown accustomed to from the other Korean BBQ restaurants in the area.
The wait staff was disinterested and lackadaisical, and the side dishes are still an issue for me. Not great in either variety or taste.
Sticking to my guns.

Went again a few days ago for lunch. This time I got galbi with soup which can be either soon doo boo (spicy tofu soup) or den jang jjigeh (korean miso soup). I chose the den jang jjigeh and my brother chose soon doo boo. My mom got jay yuk dopsol bibimbap (bibimbap with spicy pork served in a hot stone bowl).
All the food was fantastic save for the soon doo boo. It was pretty lacking in flavor and tasted like any store bough soon doo boo. The galbi portions were a tad bit smaller than what I remembered them to be which made me sad. Overall, still good but wish they were a bit more consistent with portion size.
I forgot to mention in my last review, lunch hours are from 11:30 — 3:30 PM

This place has good decoration, but their food is just ok.
My friends and I went there for a friend’s birthday dinner. Their BBQ and other food are just so-​so. The only thing that was outstanding was their beef tartare. This was my first time trying beef tartare, and most of us were impressed and satisfied with it. It’s also the only thing that we were really impressed by this place. (And it’s probably why I’m giving it a three stars instead of two)
After the dinner, one of us asked the waiter to bring the cakes we brought for the birthday girl. We waited for a much longer time than we expected. In the end, we had to ask for them again and it seems like they forgot our request!
Given so many choices of Korean BBQ in the neighborhood, I think this place is pretty expense for what we get, and it’s definitely not my #1 choice to go for Korean BBQ.

So an update to my review from Saturday night. Manager sent me a message apologizing for the waiters yesterday.
I still stand by my comment that the usage of the service bell is pretty much useless. I flagged a busboy and told him I wanted to speak to a waiter. The busboy saw how irritated I looked and literally ran and grabbed hold of the first waiter he saw.
I feel like I practically screamed at that waiter telling him what’s the point of having a bell or having a bunch of waiters when no one comes to take our order. He apologized and told us that because it was so busy, all the waiters were occupied helping someone (I wish I took a picture cause the place was ¹⁄₃ empty and a different waiter came to help the table next to us twice, but didn’t even glance at us).
After that «small» incident, we had waiters stopping at our table every 20 minutes to offer more side dishes and extra service.
For four people, we ordered at least $ 200 worth of food. I recommend the marinated kalbi, and pork jowl.
Three stars for the effort and trying to correct their mistake afterwards

Great service, great food and nice retro interior.
We tried pork belly and cold noodles.
meats are Fresh and taste good. pork was very juice and tender.
pork belly price was fair ($ 17.99). we ordered two! its six pcs.
cold noodles are taste really bad. it has no flavor. i didnt like it at all, not worth of money.
i got disappointed, they charged for egg pot, rice and dont even serve soybean soup (den jang jji gae). Usually its complementary side in other korean bbq restaurant.
Basicly no side dishes like any other korean restaurant. when you order this is what you get with meat. Lettuce (ssam), mayo-​pasta salad, kimch, pickled onion, scallion salad and some sauce for meat. they serve you little portion, so ask more then they will give you.
*this is not place for kid or baby. there is no food for them. and high chair for the baby isnt safe for them. it very loose.

The beef it self is fairly tender and the price not so bad but nothing so delicious to want to come back. When a korean restaurant tries to charge you for more side dishes or rice, you know this business wont last long. surprisingly there are lots of servers and not too many customers and yet the servers arent too attentive.
Skip the nengmyun or any other dish because its not that great.
The only thing I gound memorable was the bathroom for handicapped customers. It reads DISABLED ROOM.

This place is not very tasty. Then pro is that it’s cheap! Tried their pork belly and marinated kalbi. Pork tasted better but just still only ok. True that it’s really lacking in the Bön-​chon. I disagree with there being more quality over quantity here. Just very lacking. I enjoyed the bibim namyum tho (cold spicy noodles). Sauce was great in that but… Barely any toppings. Excellent décor, picnic style. Spotty service despite the service bell. Soy bean soup was pretty good, had that nice miso taste.
Would not return, but good for young kids looking to try Korean BBQ with friends

Go to Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong instead. I was very unimpressed with Jongro’s food and service.
My gf and I got the first beef set assuming the meat would be fresh and they would provide an appetizing dipping sauce but neither was the case. At KHDBJ, I think the price point is a bit higher but they provide a variety of marinated and unmarinated meat in addition to a better dipping sauce and a larger portion!
To top it off, we had to ask the servers multiple times to get the complimentary kimchi jigae. They kept telling us it would be an extra charge and we had to remind them numerous times that we had ordered the set and we’re supposed to get it for free.
Restaurants and Korean restaurants in particular, treat their customers extra special when they first open up to impress and this was a big reason why I checked Jongro out but with unimpressive portions and mediocre service, I highly doubt I’ll return.
The only reason I give two stars is because of the décor. What a shame.